1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure or tie, in particular for a cooking bag containing edible food contents.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the art of cooking to provide a flexibly adjustable closure for tying a bag shut so that edible food contents therein do not escape therefrom during high heating and boiling steps.
An exemplary prior art closure and bag are shown in FIGS. 1A-1D and 2. As seen in FIG. 1A, an 11".times.17" cooking bag 10 made of clear flexible plastic, such as nylon nucleated film, is folded tightly into a two-inch square. In this folded condition, the bag 10 is about one-half inch thick. Each fabricated bag 10 is capable of withstanding a desired force or pressure, for example, holding a minimum of 18" of water pressure when tested. An adjustable closure 12, preferably a colored nylon tie, is placed inside the bag 10 prior to the last fold. The bag 10 with the closure 12 inside is then secured in its folded condition by a pressure sensitive label 14.
The adjustable closure 12 is shown in its flat, laid-out condition in FIG. 1B. The closure 12 has a shape similar to an arrow with a thin head 12a, a long midsection 12b, and a wide tail 12c. The head 12a has a longitudinal slot 12d in a widened portion 12e which joins the midsection 12b. A plurality of identical cutouts 12f is punched along a length of the midsection 12b to make the closure 12 adjustable to a selected one of the cutouts 12f. The tail 12c has a noncircular catch 12g cut therein.
A top view of the label 14 is shown with two sets of instructions printed thereon in FIG. 1C. The label 14 has an oblong shape with rounded ends 14a and 14b. On a main body 14c, a first set of instructions 14d is printed. A second set of instructions 14e is printed on the second rounded end 14b.
FIG. 1D illustrates a bottom view of the label 14. An adhesive 14f covers the first rounded end 14a and the main body 14c while the second rounded end 14b has an ungummed portion 14g.
FIG. 2 depicts the prior art device in use. To assemble the bag into this arrangement, the ungummed portion 14g of the second rounded end 14b is first gripped by the user and the label 14 is peeled back from the folded bag 10 in the direction of an arrow A. The bag 10 in FIG. 1A is then unfolded to its full 11".times.17" size and the closure 12 is removed. The bag 10 in FIG. 2 is then opened at one end 10a opposite to a sealed end 10b and, after edible food contents 16 to be baked or otherwise cooked are placed inside the opened bag 10, the user grabs the bag 10 near to its end 10a and bunches up the bag 10 to form a neck 10c which is then encircled by the closure 12. Subsequently, the user threads the thin head 12a through the catch 12g and pulls the closure 12 tightly therethrough until one of the cutouts 12f gets caught in the catch 12g and the closure 12 cannot be pulled through any farther.
With this arrangement, the bag 10 is closed as tightly as the user pulls the closure 12 through the catch 12g. However, one user may pull the closure 12 more or less tightly than another so that the particular cutout 12f which gets caught in the catch 12g can vary from user to user. Unfortunately, with this prior art device, sometimes the user does not pull the closure 12 tightly enough and the food contents 16 leak out of the bag 10. In fact, if the closure is very loose, it can slip off the bag, leaving the bag mouth unfastened. At other times, the user pulls the closure 12 excessively so that the closure 12 either breaks or tears, or the bag 10 bursts during cooking because steam cannot vent therefrom through the one end 10a. If steam cannot escape from bag 10 during high temperature cooking, perforations must be provided in the bag to prevent rupture. However, user's may inadvertently fail to perforate bag 10 before cooking.
Thus, it remains a problem in the prior art to provide a closure which will consistently seal a cooking bag so that the open end thereof will be constricted sufficiently to prevent spillage of the food contents therefrom while steam is also allowed to vent from the bag during cooking.